Manish Sisodia misused his position, sought documents in excise policy case despite being an accused: BJP

The BJP on Thursday accused Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia of misusing his position after a purported letter showed that he had sought documents related to the now-scrapped Excise Policy 2021-22. Delhi government sources said there was “no substance” to the allegations.

Sharing the letter by Mr. Sisodia’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) M. K. Nikhil, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor demanded the Deputy CM’s resignation saying that he had no moral right to continue in the government as he was the “accused no. 1 in the liquor scam case. Mr. Nikhil had allegedly written the letter to the Excise Commissioner on September 30 seeking “photocopies and scanned copy (in a pen drive) of files and documents related to the formation of Excise Policy 2021-22 and related tender documents immediately”.

The CBI has alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval. The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of accounts to evade detection, it further said.

Delhi BJP social media in-charge Shehzad Poonawalla said, “This is a clear cut proof of attempt to sabotage the probe. Sisodia should have been sacked long back but now his continuation is untenable after this abuse of position.”

In response, a source in the government said, “The matter in question has no substance. All their investigations and raids on Dy. CM Manish Sisodia have already failed.” These are “baseless allegations to defame Mr. Sisodia”, the source added.